Photo: MI NEWS

Rugby League – World Cup

The numbers of Pacific groups contesting the subsequent Rugby League World Cup may drop after the governing physique determined to chop the variety of collaborating groups from 16 on the 2021 occasion to only 10 for the subsequent occasion.

The International Rugby League (IRL) has moved the 2025 match again a yr, to 2026, and it’ll now be held within the Southern Hemisphere after France withdrew from internet hosting it in 2025 because it couldn’t provide the required monetary ensures.

The girls’s occasion will once more characteristic eight groups – however the 2025 occasion was as a consequence of be expanded to 16.

In the 2021 World Cup – which was delayed by a yr as a consequence of covid-19 – 5 Pacific nations competed within the males’s occasion – finalists Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Cook Islands. The girls’s occasion featured PNG and the Cook Islands.

The President of Cook Islands Rugby League Association, Charles Carlson, advised Cook Islands News the adjustments have been “disappointing and disheartening”.

Carlson stated meaning each their males’s and ladies’s groups, who had certified immediately after the world cups final yr, will now need to undergo qualification matches once more.

Fiji – soccer

FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has opened new soccer services in Fiji and mentioned soccer improvement with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and the Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad.

The FIFA President inaugurated a brand new health centre, named after the late Brazilian legend Pelé, and a futsal pitch constructed with the help of FIFA Forward.

Mr Infantino additionally witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the FFA and the federal government to launch a Football for Schools mission within the nation.

The FFA can also be planning to construct a excessive efficiency centre, for gamers graduating from soccer academies, which can embody a 15,000-capacity stadium.

Football – Marianas

The Northern Marianas soccer staff made historical past within the Marianas Cup final week by beating neighbouring Guam on Saipan.

The CNMI males’s U-23 staff misplaced the primary recreation towards Guam’s U-23 staff, 0-1, on Thursday, however avenged the loss with a 3-0 win on Saturday to take the sequence by means of aim distinction.

It’s the primary time because the Marianas Cup was conceived in 2007 that the CNMI males have defeated Guam which performs within the Asian Football Confederation.

The CNMI girls’s U-23 staff beat their Guam counterparts in each their video games.

It’s the third straight win for the CNMI girls towards Guam.

Markus Attao-Toves and Summer Manahane have been adjudged the 2023 Marianas Cup MVPs.

Futsal – Solomon Islands

The Solomon Islands futsal staff has misplaced their opening recreation of the Continental Futsal Championship in Thailand.

The Kurukuru misplaced 6-2 to Myanmar in Bangkok and subsequent play the hosts Thailand.

Thailand defeated Myanmar 5-0 of their first recreation of the round-robin stage.

Rugby – Tonga

‘Ikale Tahi gamers battling for spots within the Rugby World Cup squad for France could have two Test matches towards the visiting Canadian staff to cement their claims.

Tongan head coach Toutai Kefu says he has a good thought of who he’ll take to France however has to see some gamers whose health is fifty-fifty in the mean time.

The two matches towards Canada, on Thursday and Tuesday, would be the final alternative for gamers to impress.

The Tonga Rugby Union expects to announce the 33-member squad for the World Cup subsequent Wednesday.

Rugby – Fiji youth

The Fiji youth sevens groups have claimed a silver and a bronze medal on the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.

Fiji’s males’s staff misplaced 25-20 to Scotland within the last on Tuesday evening.

The Fijians had defeated Scotland 32-5 within the early levels of the competitors.

Fiji’s girls’s staff received bronze after they defeated Kenya 22-10 within the bronze medal play-off.

Beach volleyball – Vanuatu

The Vanuatu seaside volleyball pair of Stephanie Joel and Eleno Mouele have completed eleventh on the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago after they defeated Cayman Islands of their play-off on Tuesday evening.

Earlier within the match the 2 women had recorded Vanuatu’s first ever wins on the occasion, additionally defeating the Cayman Islands 2-1 of their first pool match.

But they misplaced 2-0 to Mozambique on Sunday and 2-1 to Scotland within the spherical of 16.

Vanuatu Beach Volleyball stated it was happy with the duo’s efficiency.

Canoeing – Samoa

More than a thousand canoe paddlers from 28 nations will converge in Apia, Samoa this week for the World Distance Championships.

The occasion, hosted by the Samoa Outrigger Canoe Association, is from August 10-19 in Apia Harbour.

A purpose-built stage on the seawall would be the fundamental staging space for the championships.

Samoa’s Tourism Minister Cedric Schuster stated the occasion can be a significant enhance for tourism.